"I Froze": Bengaluru Woman Recounts Harassment During Metro Ride

A 25-year-old woman has alleged that she was inappropriately touched and subjected to obscene behaviour by a fellow passenger while travelling on a Namma Metro train in central Bengaluru, prompting the police to register a Non-Cognisable Report (NCR) in the case.  An NCR allows police to record information about an alleged offence that does not require immediate arrest without court permission.

The incident occurred on Tuesday inside a metro train near the busy Majestic interchange, one of the city's busiest transit hubs. Police identified the accused as a 55-year-old man named Mutappa. According to police, the man was allegedly intoxicated at the time of the incident and repeatedly fell against the woman during the journey.

The woman, who was travelling home from work, confronted the man inside the train and later alerted metro security personnel. Following her complaint, the matter was referred to the police. Officers at the Upparpet Police Station registered an NCR, summoned the man for questioning, issued a warning, and released him later.

In a video statement, the woman said that her metro ride lasted about 15 minutes. She said she was initially seated between a man and a woman. The man seated next to her got down at his station and another passenger took his place.

According to her account, the new passenger sat unusually close, leaving her feeling cramped between two people. She said she tried to adjust her position to make space, assuming the lack of room might be accidental. But she soon felt a hand pressing against her body in a manner she found disturbing.

"At first, I thought it could be by mistake," she said, explaining that she attempted to move again, even at the cost of making the woman on her other side uncomfortable. She said the behaviour continued, with the man placing his leg against hers.

"That moment, I realised this is not a mistake. This is intentional," she said. "I was frozen. When I realised that someone was intentionally doing this to me. And I was really angry."

When her station arrived, she said she stood up and slapped the man, demanding that he get up. She later discovered that he was also getting down at the same station. She said she slapped him again on the platform, describing him as crying, begging, and yet smiling intermittently, while speaking in Kannada, which she said she did not understand.

"Luckily, he was also getting down at the same metro station. So I slapped him again in the metro station. I slapped him so hard that he was literally crying and begging. But above all of this, he was smiling also," the woman said. 

Metro security personnel intervened and escorted both individuals, after which the woman insisted on filing a police complaint. She said the man was taken to the police station, where she learned details that further disturbed her. She was told the man had been riding the metro continuously for nearly an hour without exiting at any station, suggesting he may have been loitering on the trains. She was also informed that he was drunk.

She also expressed anger at what the police allegedly told her. She said she was advised that, in future, she should simply get up and move away if she sensed danger.

"Firstly, how would I know that someone sitting next to me is a person like this? Should I ask every man I meet, 'Are you a predator?'" the woman said in her statement.